Between the Hammer of Tel Aviv and the Anvil of Tehran: Does Trump Have a Way Out of the Iranian Trap?

The main question tormenting the Washington establishment and ordinary citizens alike is: how to escape the trap that, according to many, the cunning Benjamin Netanyahu has pulled the country into?

Roots of the Crisis: The “Hawk” Convinces the “Peacemaker”

The path to the current disaster was paved with good intentions mixed with political cynicism. Donald Trump has always positioned himself as a critic of the failed “regime change” policy carried out by his predecessors in Iraq and Afghanistan. “Invading the Middle East is the worst decision in history,” he wrote in 2019, and these slogans became the cornerstone of his 2024 presidential campaign. His slogan “Trump = Peace” was a recurring refrain at every rally.

However, according to a knowledgeable source at Reuters, the reality of the second term proved more complex than the campaign promises. According to numerous leaks in The New York Times and Axios, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu waged a methodical and successful campaign to convince the American leader. The culmination was Netanyahu’s visit to Mar-a-Lago in December 2025 and the fateful phone call on February 23, 2026, when Netanyahu shared intelligence with Trump regarding the location of Iran’s leaders.

Trump’s critics immediately recalled his own tweet from 2011: “Our president will start a war with Iran because he is absolutely incapable of negotiating.” Now this tweet, widely circulated by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, sounds like a prophecy.

But who is really to blame? Secretary of State Marco Rubio, trying to explain the White House’s logic, made a scandalous statement, then quickly sought to disavow it. Initially, he admitted that the threat to the U.S. came not from direct Iranian actions, but from the fact that Israel was going to strike first, and the U.S. chose to launch a preemptive strike to control the escalation and avoid greater losses. This statement was a balm for supporters of the theory that Trump had been trapped. Later, Rubio and Trump himself disowned this version, insisting that negotiations had reached an impasse. Nevertheless, the stain remained: Iran calls this war a “war of choice,” waged in the interests of Israel.

Current situation: Escalation without borders and goals

By March 10, 2026, the conflict had gone far beyond the initial plans. What started as pinpoint strikes on military........

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